Reports of Baghdadi's capture not true: Syrian President

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has denied reports of the capture of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi stating that Syrian borders with Iraq are still very much under the control of the militant group.

"That's not true. Anyway, those borders are under the control of [Daesh] till this moment, it's neither Syrian nor Russian, not even Western or American or any other one; it's only [Daesh] who's controlling those borders, so it's safe for al-Baghdadi to be in that area," Sputnik news agency quote Assad as saying.

A number of media outlets earlier reported that al-Baghdadi had been detained in Syria near the border with Iraq.